“Greater love hath no man than this, that a man lay down his life for his friends.”
John 15:13 KJV
The last Monday of May has slowly become known as the kick-off to summer with outdoor gatherings, cookouts, and family. The reality is the last Monday of May has a deeper meaning, it is the day we stop to honor and remember those who served our country and lost their lives, it is Memorial Day. This is a day set aside, for us to honor and remember the men and women who gave the ultimate sacrifice for our country.
Memorial Day is believed to have originated when a group of women gathered to honor their husbands who died during the Civil War. This act of honoring their husbands by laying wreaths at their grave spread around the country. As it spread what these women were doing, more groups gathered to follow suit. There is an old hymnal, “Kneel Where Our Loves Are Sleeping” that is dedicated to these organized group of women who were honoring their fallen husbands.
Although, the name and day have evolved over the years, on this Memorial Day, take time, as you are gathered with family, to honor the fallen men and women who gave the ultimate sacrifice for our country.
Here we find our noble dead,
Their spirits soar’d to him above,
Rest they now about his throne,
For God is mercy, God is love.
Taken from the hymnal, Kneel Where Our Loves Are Sleeping.
Sweet, L. N. & R, G. W. (1867) Kneel Where Our Loves Are Sleeping. A. E. Blackmar, New Orleans. [Notated Music] Retrieved from the Library of Congress, https://www.loc.gov/item/ihas.200002569/.
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